The Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction, formerly known as the Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction, is a prize category in the annual

Victorian Premier's Literary Award The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary p ...

. As of 2011 it has a remuneration of 25,000. The winner of this category prize vies with 4 other category winners for overall Victorian Prize for Literature valued at an additional 100,000. The prize was formerly known as the Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction from inception until 2010 when the awards were re-established under the stewardship of the

Wheeler Centre The Wheeler Centre, originally Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas, is a literary and publishing centre founded as part of Melbourne's bid to be a Unesco Creative City of Literature, which designation it earned in 2008. It is named after its pat ...

and restarted with new prize amounts and a new name. The Nettie Palmer Prize was valued at 30,000 in 2010. According to the State Library of Victoria which managed the prize from 1997 to 2010, "This prize is offered for a published work of non-fiction. Books consisting principally of photographs or illustrations are ineligible unless the accompanying text is of substantial length."State Library of Victoria
/ref>

Palmer Palmer may refer to: People and fictional characters * Palmer (pilgrim), a medieval European pilgrim to the Holy Land * Palmer (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Palmer (surname), including a list of people and ...

wrote regularly for numerous newspapers all round Australia. She wrote on a wide range of topics, from environment to cultural events, reviewing all important books being published in Australia, America, Europe and elsewhere.

Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction

Blue ribbon () = winner. * 2011 ** Mark McKenna, ''An Eye for Eternity: The Life Of Manning Clark'' *** Stephen Foster, ''A Private Empire'' ***

Cordelia Fine Cordelia Fine (born 1975) is a Canadian-born British philosopher of science, psychologist and writer. She is a full professor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Fine has written three popular scienc ...

, ''Delusions of Gender'' *** Fiona Capp, ''My Blood’s Country'' ***

Anna Krien Anna Krien is an Australian journalist, essayist, fiction and nonfiction writer and poet. Career Krien has contributed to a number of Australian publications, including ''The'' ''Monthly'', ''The Age'', ''The Big Issue'', ''The Best Australia ...

, ''Into the Woods'' *** Tim Bonyhady, ''Good Living Street'' ** * 2012 **

Bill Gammage William Leonard Gammage (born 1942) is an Australian academic historian, adjunct professor and senior research fellow at the Humanities Research Centre of the Australian National University (ANU). Gammage was born in Orange, New South Wales, ...

, ''The Biggest Estate on Earth'' *** Simon Leys, ''The Hall of Uselessness'' ***

Alice Pung Alice Pung (born 1981) is an Australian writer, editor and lawyer. Her books include the memoirs ''Unpolished Gem'' (2006), ''Her Father's Daughter'' (2011) and the novel ''Laurinda'' (2014). Pung is a practising solicitor. She has also worke ...

, ''Her Father's Daughter'' ***

Kerryn Goldsworthy Dr. Kerryn Lee Goldsworthy (born 14 May 1953) is an Australian freelance writer and former academic. Life and career Goldsworthy has edited four anthologies of Australian writing. She has also written many articles, essays and reviews. She has ...

, ''Adelaide'' *** James Boyce, ''1835: The Founding of Melbourne & The Conquest of Australia'' *** Brenda Niall, ''True North: The Story of Mary and Elizabeth Durack'' * 2013 No award due to timing change - the next awards were presented in January 2014 for books published in 2013. * 2014 ** Henry Reynolds, '' Forgotten War'' *** Robert Kenny, ''Gardens of Fire: An Investigative Memoir'' ***

Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literat ...

, ''

White Beech ''Gmelina leichhardtii'', the white beech, is a tree of eastern Australia. Scattered individuals or small groups of trees naturally occur from the Illawarra district of New South Wales (34½° S) to near Proserpine in tropical Queensland. ...

'' *** Kristina Olsson, ''Boy, Lost: A Family Memoir'' ***

Helen Trinca Helen Trinca is an Australian journalist and author. She has been managing editor and as is associate editor at ''The Australian''. Background Trinca was born in Perth and graduated from the city's University of Western Australia with a BA in ...

, ''Madeleine: A Life of Madeleine St John'' ***

Gideon Haigh Gideon Clifford Jeffrey Davidson Haigh (born 29 December 1965) is an English-born Australian journalist and non-fiction author who writes about sport (especially cricket), business and crime in Australia. He was born in London, was raised in Ge ...

, ''On Warne'' ***

NPY Women's Council The Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Women's Council (NPY Women's Council, NPYWC) is a community-based community organisation formed in 1980 delivering services to the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara women in th ...

, Commended: ''Traditional Healers of Central Australia: Ngangkari'' * 2015 ** Alan Atkinson, ''The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation'' ( NewSouth) *** Erik Jensen, ''Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of

Adam Cullen Adam Frederick Cullen (9 October 1965 – 28 July 2012) was an Australian artist, most known for winning the Archibald Prize in 2000 with a portrait of actor David Wenham. He was also known for his controversial subjects and his distincti ...

'' (

Black Inc. Schwartz Publishing is an Australian publishing house, digital media and news media organisation based in Carlton, Victoria, Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria established by Australian property developer Morry Schwartz in the 19 ...

) *** Tess Lea, ''Darwin'' (NewSouth) *** Tim Low, ''Where Song Began'' (Penguin) ***

Julie Szego Julie Szego is a Melbourne-based author and journalist. Career Szego started working as a lawyer before switching to writing. She wrote for ''The Age'' on and off for more than two decades as a social affairs reporter, senior writer, leader writ ...

, ''The Tainted Trial of Farah Jama'' (Wild Dingo Press) ***

Don Watson Don Watson (born 1949) is an Australian author, screenwriter, former political adviser, and speechwriter. Early life Watson was born in 1949 at Warragul in the Gippsland region of Victoria, and grew up on a farm in nearby Korumburra. Academi ...

, ''The Bush'' (Penguin) * 2016 **

Gerald Murnane Gerald Murnane (born 25 February 1939) is an Australian writer, perhaps best known for his novel ''The Plains'' (1982). ''The New York Times'', in a big feature published on 27 March 2018, called him "the greatest living English-language writer ...

, ''Something for the Pain'' (

Text Publishing Text Publishing is an independent Australian publisher of fiction and non-fiction, based in Melbourne, Victoria. Company background Text Media was founded in Melbourne in 1990 by Diana Gribble and Eric Beecher, along with designer Chong Weng ...

) *** Lesley Harding and Kendrah Morgan, ''Modern Love: The Lives of John and Sunday Reed'' ( MUP) *** Karen Lamb, ''

Thea Astley Thea Beatrice May Astley (25 August 1925 – 17 August 2004) was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She was a prolific writer who was published for over 40 years from 1958. At the time of her death, she had won more Miles Franklin ...

: Inventing Her Own Weather'' ( UQP) *** George Megalogenis, ''Australia’s Second Chance'' (Penguin) *** Drusilla Modjeska, ''Second Half First'' (Knopf) *** Brenda Niall, ''Mannix'' (Text Publishing) * 2017 ** Madeline Gleeson, ''Offshore: Behind the wire on Manus and Nauru'' (

NewSouth Publishing The University of New South Wales Press Ltd. is an Australian academic book publishing company launched in 1962 and based in Randwick, a suburb of Sydney. The ACNC not-for-profit entity has three divisions: NewSouth Publishing (the publishing arm ...

) ***

Deng Adut Deng Thiak Adut (born ) is a defence lawyer and refugee advocate in Western Sydney, Australia, and a former child soldier from South Sudan. His story is told in a popular short video by Western Sydney University, where he earned his law degree ...

with Ben Mckelvey, ''Songs of a War Boy'' ( Hachette Australia) ***

Maxine Beneba Clarke Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian writer of Afro-Caribbean descent, whose work includes fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her collection of short stories ''Foreign Soil'' won the 2013 Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award, the 2015 ...

, ''The Hate Race'' (Hachette Australia) *** Sarah Ferguson with Patricia Drum, ''The Killing Season Uncut'' (Melbourne University Publishing) ***

Kim Mahood Kim Mahood (born 1953) is an Australian writer and artist based in Wamboin, Wamboin, New South Wales. She spends several months each year in the Tanami Desert, Tanami and Great Sandy Desert regions where she grew up. Mahood grew up on Mongrel ...

, ''Position Doubtful'' (Scribe Publications) ***

Arnold Zable Arnold Zable (born 1947) is an Australian writer, novelist, storyteller and human rights advocate. His books include the memoir ''Jewels and Ashes'', three novels: ''Café Scheherazade'', ''Scraps of Heaven'', and ''Sea of Many Returns'', two co ...

, ''The Fighter'' (Text Publishing) * 2018 **

Sarah Krasnostein Sarah Krasnostein is an American-Australian non-fiction writer and legal academic. Education Krasnostein completed a BA/LLB (honours) degree from the University of Melbourne in 2005. She was admitted as an attorney of the State of New York i ...

, ''The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay & Disaster'' (Text Publishing) ***

Georgia Blain Georgia Frances Elise Blain (12 December 19649 December 2016) was an Australian novelist, journalist and biographer. Biography Born in Sydney in 1964 to journalist and broadcaster Anne Deveson (d. 2016) and broadcaster Ellis Blain (d. 1978), ...

, ''The Museum of Words: A Memoir of Language, Writing and Mortality'' (Scribe Publications) *** Kate Cole-Adams, ''Anaesthesia: The Gift of Oblivion and the Mystery of Consciousness'' (Text Publishing) *** Mary-Rose MacColl, ''For a Girl: A True Story of Secrets, Motherhood and Hope'' (Allen & Unwin) ***

Alexis Wright Alexis Wright (born 25 November 1950) is a Waanyi (Aboriginal Australian) writer best known for winning the Miles Franklin Award for her 2006 novel '' Carpentaria'' and the 2018 Stella Prize for her "collective memoir" of Leigh Bruce "Tracker" ...

, ''Tracker'' (Giramondo) * 2019 ** Behrouz Boochani, '' No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison'' (Picador Australia) *** Jessie Cole, ''Staying: A Memoir'' ***

Chloe Hooper Chloe Melisande Hooper (born 1973) is an Australian author. Her first novel, ''A Child’s Book of True Crime'' (2002), was short-listed for the Orange Prize for Literature and was a ''New York Times'' Notable Book. In 2005, she turned to rep ...

, ''The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire'' *** Bri Lee, ''

Eggshell Skull The eggshell rule (also thin skull rule, papier-mâché-plaintiff rule, or talem qualem rule) is a well-established legal doctrine in common law, used in some tort law systems, with a similar doctrine applicable to criminal law. The rule stat ...

'' *** Sofija Stefanovic, ''Miss Ex-Yugoslavia'' *** Maria Tumarkin, ''Axiomatic'' * 2020 ** Christina Thompson, ''Sea People: The puzzle of Polynesia'' (HarperCollins) *** Gay’wu Group of Women, ''Songspirals: Sharing women’s wisdom of country through songlines'' *** Chloe Higgins, ''The Girls'' ***

Jess Hill Jesse Terrill Hill (January 20, 1907 – August 31, 1993) was an American athlete, coach, and college athletics administrator who was best known for his tenure as a coach and athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC). His c ...

, ''See What You Made Me Do: Power, control and domestic abuse'' *** Lizzie O’Shea, ''Future Histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune can teach us about digital technology'' ***

Archie Roach Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian singer, songwriter and Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach was a Gunditjmara and Bundjalung elder who campaigned for the rights of Abori ...

, ''Tell Me Why: The story of my life and my music'' *2021 **Paddy Manning, ''Body Count: How climate change is killing us'' **Margo Neale and Lynne Kelly, ''Songlines: The Power and Promise'' **Kylie Maslen, ''Show Me Where It Hurts'' ** Louise Milligan, ''Witness: An investigation into the brutal cost of seeking justice'' **Ellena Savage, ''Blueberries'' **Victor Steffensen, ''Fire Country: How Indigenous fire management could help save Australia'' *2022 **Amani Haydar, ''The Mother Wound'''''' **

Randa Abdel-Fattah Randa Abdel-Fattah (born 6 June 1979) is an Australian writer. Randa was born in Australia and her debut novel, '' Does My Head Look Big in This?'', was published in 2005. Early life and education Abdel-Fattah was born in Sydney, New South Wal ...

, ''Coming of Age in the War on Terror'' **Danielle Celermajer, ''Summertime: Reflections on a vanishing future'' **

Veronica Gorrie Veronica Gorrie (sometimes referred to as Heritage-Gorrie, born 1971/1972) is an Aboriginal Australian writer. She is a Krauatungalang Gunai woman. Her first book, ''Black and Blue: A memoir of racism and resilience'', a memoir reflecting on ...

, ''Black and Blue: A memoir of racism and resilience'' ** Fiona McGregor, ''Buried Not Dead'' **

Chelsea Watego Chelsea Joanne Watego (formerly Bond, born 1978/1979) is an Aboriginal Australian academic and writer. She is a Mununjali Yugambeh and South Sea Islander woman and is currently Professor of Indigenous Health at Queensland University of Techn ...

, ''Another Day in the Colony'' *2023 ** Shannon Burns, ''Childhood'' ** Eda Gunaydin, ''Root & Branch: Essays on Inheritance'' ** Louisa Lim, ''Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong'' **

Kylie Moore-Gilbert Kylie Moore-Gilbert is an Australian-British academic in Islamic studies. She was a lecturer at the University of Melbourne's Asia Institute and has carried out research into revolutions in the Middle East, in particular Bahraini politics and prot ...

, ''The Uncaged Sky: My 804 Days in an Iranian Prison'' ** Sally Olds, ''People who Lunch: Essays on Work, Leisure and Loose Living'' ** Sam Wallman, ''Our Members Be Unlimited: A Comic about Workers and Their Unions''

Nettie Palmer Prize for Nonfiction

* 2010 ''Reading by Moonlight: How Books Saved a Life'' by Brenda Walker * 2009 '' The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island'',

( Hamish Hamilton) * 2008 ''The Ferocious Summer: Palmer's Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica'' by

Meredith Hooper Meredith Hooper is an Australian historian and writer. Early life She was born and raised in Adelaide, Australia. Hooper graduated in history from the University of Adelaide, then studied imperial history at Oxford. Career She is a membe ...

( Allen & Unwin)Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction - 2008 Winner
/ref> * 2007 ''Voyages to the South Seas: In Search of Terres Australes'' by Danielle Clode (The Miegunyah Press/Melbourne University Publishing)Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction - 2007 Winner
/ref> * 2006 ''Margaret Michaelis: Love, Loss and Photography'' by Helen Ennis (National Gallery of Australia)Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction - 2006 Winner
/ref> * 2005 ''Twilight of Love: Travels with Turgenev'' by Robert Dessaix (Picador/Pan Macmillan)Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction - 2005 Winner
/ref> * 2004 ''Car Wars: How the Car Won Our Hearts and Conquered Our Cities'' by

Graeme Davison Graeme John Davison, (born 1940) is an Australian historian who is the Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor in the School of Historical Studies at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He is best known for his work on Australian urban hi ...

(Allen & Unwin)Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction - 2004 Winner
/ref> * 2003 ''Broken Song: T.G.H. Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession'' by Barry Hill (Knopf/Random House)Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction - 2003 Winner
/ref> * 2002 ''The Boyds: A Family Biography'' by Brenda Niall * 2001 ''Broken Circles: Fragmenting Indigenous Families 1800-2000'' by

Anna Haebich Anna Elizabeth Haebich, ( ; born 18 December 1949) is an Australian writer, historian and academic. Career Haebich is a John Curtin Distinguished Professor and Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Humanities at Curtin University. She wa ...

* 2000 ''The White'' by Adrian Caesar * 1999 ''M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio'' by Peter Robb * 1998 ''

Romulus, My Father ''Romulus, My Father'' is a biographical memoir, first published in 1998, written by the Australian philosopher Raimond Gaita. The memoir outlines the life of his father, Romulus Gaita (1922 – May 1996). Plot Romulus Gaita fled his hometown ...

'' by

Raimond Gaita Raimond Gaita (born Raimund Gaita; 14 May 1946) is a German-born Australian philosopher and award-winning writer. He was, until 2011, foundation professor of philosophy at the Australian Catholic University and professor of moral philosophy at ...

* 1997 '' Midnight in Sicily'' by Peter Robb * 1996 * 1995 ''Georgiana: A Biography of Georgiana McCrae, Painter, Diarist, Pioneer'' by Brenda Niall * 1994 ''Lyrebird Rising: Louise Hanson-Dyer of Oiseau-Lyre 1884-1962'' by Jim Davidson * 1993 ''Mr Bligh's Bad Language'' by

Greg Dening Greg Dening (1931 – 13 March 2008) was an Australian historian of the Pacific. Dening was born in Newcastle, New South Wales. He was educated at two Jesuit schools: St. Louis School in Perth and Xavier College in Melbourne. He received an M ...

* 1992 ''Patrick White: A Life'' by David Marr * 1991 ''Wild Card'' by Dorothy Hewett * 1990 ''The Sixpenny Soldier'' by Roland Griffiths-Marsh * 1989 ''Paradise Found and Lost'' by

Oskar Spate Oskar Hermann Khristian Spate (30 March 191129 May 2000) was a geographer best known for his role in strengthening geography as a discipline in Australia and the Pacific. Early life Spate was born to a German father and an English mother in the ...

References

{{reflist Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Australian non-fiction book awards